Patrick Graham’s first season running the Pittsburgh Steelers defense has gone about as well as anyone could have drawn it up.
CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell ranked Graham No. 2 among the NFL’s best new coordinators, trailing only Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator and former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon. The reason is pretty simple: Pittsburgh’s defense has snapped back into form fast.
Podell pointed to a unit that ranks No. 3 in scoring defense at 18.0 points allowed per game, No. 6 in total defense at 305.6 yards allowed per game, No. 3 against the run at 83.9 rushing yards allowed per game, No. 8 on third down at a 34.3% conversion rate allowed, No. 2 in the red zone at 37.5% third down conversion rate allowed and tied for No. 3 in takeaways with 13.
He also highlighted the impact of T.J. Watt, who looks like he’s turned back the clock.
After posting 7.0 sacks in 14 games last season, Watt already has 7.5 sacks in eight games this year, tying Texans All-Pro edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. for the league lead. Pittsburgh’s pass rush has been relentless, with 26 sacks, the most in the NFL and one more than the Brian Flores blitzkrieg Minnesota Vikings attack.
The Steelers are 6-2 and carrying a four-game winning streak into their Week 9 bye, and the numbers back up the eye test. Along with the rankings Podell cited, Pittsburgh is also tied for the fifth-fewest EPA per play allowed at -0.12 and tied for the sixth-best missed tackle rate at 10.4 percent, according to SumerSports.
That kind of production is a sharp jump from what the Steelers were giving up a year ago. In 2025 under head coach Mike Tomlin and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, Pittsburgh allowed the seventh-most yards per game at 356.9 and finished 16th in points allowed at 22.8 per game.
Even the 2024 defense, while solid, doesn’t quite compare. That group allowed 326.7 yards per game, 12th-fewest in the league, and 20.4 points per game, eighth-fewest overall.
To find a Steelers defense with this kind of production, you have to go back to 2020, when Pittsburgh gave up just 305.8 yards and 19.5 points per game on the way to a 12-4 record and an 11-0 start.
The offense has taken a step too, especially with Jaylen Warren and the ground game, with head coach Mike McCarthy calling the plays. But right now, the defense is the engine. It’s the group giving Pittsburgh its best shot at the kind of playoff run that has slipped away too often over the past decade.
That matters because the recent Super Bowl winners have shown the blueprint. The 2023 Kansas City Chiefs, 2024 Philadelphia Eagles and 2025 Seattle Seahawks all rode elite defenses to the title.
There’s still a long way to go, but the Steelers’ defense is playing at a level that gives them a real chance against anybody. Graham has clearly injected new life into the unit, and with it, Pittsburgh’s ceiling looks higher than it has in years.
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What makes the discussion interesting is the sense that this team may be built a little differently than some recent Steelers squads that flashed early and then faded when the season tightened. The next stretch will say a lot about whether Pittsburgh can keep stacking wins and turn a promising first half into something that lasts into January. [Read more 🡒]